Vintage Hollywood films and stars

RICHARD CONTE IN “THE SPIDER”

As a Richard Conte fan, it’s good to see some of his early films like THE SPIDER from 1945.
As usual in a ‘B’, The Spider manages to cram so much into 60 minutes.
Set in New Orleans,Conte is a private eye whose partner Ann Savage is murdered in his apartment.

First mistake, you don’t kill off Ann Savage in the first ten minutes. The nominal leading lady is Faye Marlowe who only made a few films – she wasn’t very good.She employs Conte to investigate the mystery of her missing sister.
Faye is a magician’s assistant (Kurt Kreuger is the magician).
Walter Sande is the cop trying to figure out what’s going on.
In a small part is a young Cara Williams who was far better than Miss Marlowe.

Conte makes a good detective, with his laid back, commanding style.
Would have been great to see Ann Savage playing opposite him for the whole film!
The title, I think, refers to the stage setting Kreuger uses for his mind reading act.